Ajith’s thriller Vivegam, has emerged as the highest opening weekend grosser of the year in Chennai. Reviews given not a good feedback in social media but Vivegam film post GST has ended a long spell of slow film business in Tamil Nadu.

It has minted Rs5.75 crore over three days, higher than the Rs3.24 crore Chennai weekend earnings of blockbuster war epic Baahubali 2: The Conclusion. The opening day collection for Vivegam was a record Rs1.22 crore.

Overseas rights has collected Rs88.16 lakh in the United Kingdom and Rs93.77 lakh in Australia, Cashing in on a massive screen count, including 800 in Tamil Nadu, 300 in Kerala, 200 in Karnataka and 450 in the Telangana-Hyderabad belt, the Ajith-starrer also benefited from an extended holiday weekend, due to Vinayaka Chaturthi across south India.

“You can imagine how bad the phase is considering for the first time in three or four years, there was no Tamil film release last week. So yes, Vivegam has been a much-needed relief,” said Atul Mohan, editor of trade magazine Complete Cinema“.